Obama, Steep Learning Curve in Time of War

[Jeffersons Ghost]

For Obama, Steep Learning Curve as Chief in Time of War

WASHINGTON — President Obama rushed to the Oval Office when word arrived one night that militants with Al Qaeda in Yemen had been located and that the military wanted to support an attack by Yemeni forces. After a quick discussion, his counterterrorism adviser, John O. Brennan, told him the window to strike was closing.

“I’ve got two minutes here,” Mr. Brennan said. “O.K.,” the president said. “Go with this.”

While Mr. Obama took three sometimes maddening months to decide to send more forces to Afghanistan, other decisions as commander in chief have come with dizzying speed, far less study and little public attention.

He is the first president in four decades with a shooting war already raging the day he took office — two, in fact, plus subsidiaries — and his education as a commander in chief with no experience in uniform has been a steep learning curve. He has learned how to salute. He has surfed the Internet at night to look into the toll on troops. He has faced young soldiers maimed after carrying out his orders. And he is trying to manage a tense relationship with the military.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/world/29commander.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

[Fumesucker]

1. Black Hawk Down..

Clinton came into office with US forces fighting in Somalia.. GHW Bush dropped that particular turd in Clinton's lap, I think deliberately.

It may not have technically been a "war" but then Congress hasn't declared war since Dec 8, 1941.

[lunatica]

2. Yeah, Somalia was Poppy's parting fart

He left office a bitter man and his son avenged him.

[Kolesar]

4. The "no fly zone" and sanctions in Iraq were totally unsustainable foreign policy

Incompetent Colin Powell and Old Bush left that smoldering fire for President Clinton to handle. They should not have invaded Iraq and settled for a "conditional surrender".

[Fumesucker]

5. In 1994 Dick Cheney eerily predicts the result of invading Iraq..

Tell me this one minute video does not foreshadow *exactly* what went down when the US invaded Iraq in 2003.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR6A7qos6jQ

[Kolesar]

8. But after 9/11, invading Iraq was the perfect issue with which to divide the electorate

...with a militarist message. "The doubters will get you KILLED".

[JHB]

7. It was certainly very useful...

...in forestalling substantial "peace dividend" cuts to the military budget. Can't make cuts that would make a difference while our guys are in a live fire zone, right?

Don't know if that was the only reason. During the humanitarian aid phase weeks or months before the commitment of forces was announced, I saw a guy on CNN doing his standard "from the tarmac" stand-up report. What made it memorable was the name on the transport plane taxiing behind him: "Souther Air Transport" (yes, the CIA proprietary of Iran-Contra fame). Don't know if they were up to something, or if that sort of job is just what that sort of company does when it's acting "legit".

Whatever the case, the Somalia mission was much more effective at supporting some domestic political ends than it was in its stated mission.

[Kolesar]

3. "Acting like adults"

In March, during his only trip to Afghanistan in office, he met a wounded soldier, maybe 19, who had lost three limbs. “I go into a place like this, I go to Walter Reed — it’s just hard for me to think of anything to say,” an emotional Mr. Obama told advisers as he left.

The moment stuck with him. Three months later, after ousting General McChrystal, Mr. Obama marched into the Situation Room and cited the teenage triple amputee as he reprimanded advisers for the infighting that had led to the general’s forced resignation. “We have a lot of kids on the ground acting like adults and we have a lot of adults in this room acting like kids,” he lectured.

[ixion]

6. "time of war"

yeah, right. :eyes:

[izquierdista]

9. When will he learn how to pull the plug?

(1) Grasp cord firmly with closed hand
(2) Yank!

Just like Lyndon Johnson, the easiest thing to do is to approve the recommendations of your military advisors. The hardest thing to do is to tell them to STFU, tell them there's no more money for your little adventure, and send them packing.

[msongs]

10. gotta keep those bush republican generals busy perpetuating Cheney's wars nt